BJP legislative party elects MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan as leader

The newly-elected BJP legislative party on Friday evening unanimously and without any opposition elected Shivraj Singh Chouhan as their leader in the presence of central observers Sushma Swaraj and Rajeev Pratap Rudy.

| TNN | Dec 13, 2013, 10.12 PM IST

BHOPAL: The newly-elected BJP legislative party on Friday evening unanimously and without any opposition elected Shivraj Singh Chouhan as their leader in the presence of central observers Sushma Swaraj and Rajeev Pratap Rudy. BJP national president Rajnath Singh sent Swaraj and Rudy to conduct the first legislative party meeting of 165 elected party MLAs to choose their leader. All in the BJP knew of the procedure that would elect Chouhan and it was only a matter of formality.

Ten-time legislator and the senior most among the elected party MLAs Babulal Gaur proposed the name of Chouhan as leader, which was then supported by the BJP's two-term cabinet minister Narottam Mishra. Four other MLAs including Ranjana Baghel and Lal Singh Arya supported the proposal after all party legislators applauded to give their approval of Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Speaking after he was chosen as the leader of the BJP legislative party, Shivraj Singh Chouhan attributed the massive win of the BJP to the Jan Sangh leaders Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Deendayal Upadhyay and Kushabhau Thakre. "This is the victory of our ideology and a party that makes a poor farmer's son the chief minister of a state. I used to drive a tractor and even plough the fields manually. And yet, this party picked me to contest from an assembly seat. One-and-half years after I won the assembly polls, they wanted me to contest the Lok Sabha. I got scared and was rebuked by my senior leaders. I could never have dreamt of becoming a chief minister. It is only the BJP and its relentlessly hard-working cadre that made it possible," Chouhan said.

Chouhan warned his legislators against being too comfortable. "Winning once is easy. But winning twice and thrice takes hard work and effort. Start work from day one and you will always find this leader by your side. Make each constituency an ideal one and I will see to it that MLAs get more power to develop area of their constituencies," he said. Chouhan asked his MLAs to not forget humility and never get annoyed because there are people at the door asking for help. He explained that an MLA is elected so he can serve the people in his domain. It is the MLA's job to serve because he has promised to do so.

As former Union minister Rajeev Pratap Rudy pointed out that Chouhan probably has a magic wand to achieve a third-term victory for the party, Sushma Swaraj explained that it was neither magic nor unexpected victory. The historic victory came from Shivraj Singh Chouhan's humility, sensitivity and far-sightedness. We don't deny the tremendous hard-work of party workers but even where the BJP activists fell behind, the people of the state came out in huge numbers to vote this government back to power," Swaraj said.

Swaraj told the MLAs that it was not the time to relax because with the end of electoral battle, starts another towards the Lok Sabha. "By march, the model code of conduct will be imposed and we will have the general elections in April," she said adding that the BJP was targeting all 29 Lok Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh.

Chouhan to be sworn in chief minister on Saturday

Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will be sworn in for a third-term at the Jambooree Maidan on Saturday noon in the presence of three lakh BJP workers. In 2008, Chouhan was administered oath of office at the very same grounds.

Newly-elected chief ministers Vasundhara Raje and Raman Singh will also be present along with chief minister of Goa Manohar Parricker and former chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh Kailash Joshi, Sundarlal Patwa and Uma Bharati.

Sources in the party said that invitation have also been sent to former Congress chief ministers and other prominent opposition leaders from the state. NDA ally and Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal will be among the front-row dignitaries. Business honchos Anil Ambani and Kumaramangalam Birla are also expected to join the ceremony.

Sources said that invitations have been sent to sadhus, sants and heads of other religions. More than 5,000 policemen will be deployed from early morning hours for ensure tight security of VVIPS. The police department said that additional contingents and special forces are being called in from adjoining districts.

Chouhan was unanimously elected leader of the BJP legislative party on Friday evening in the presence of senior leaders Sushma Swaraj, Rajeev Pratap Rudy and Ananth Kumar. At Jambooree Maidan, the preparations were in full swing under direct supervision of BJP Rajya Sabha MP Anil Madhav Dave. A large battalion of policemen were already at the spot working out the intricacies of Saturday's security beef-up while the main stage was receiving the final touches. Huge domes were being erected to accommodate the BJP's massive work force for the programme.

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